THE Queen has something of a sweet tooth and, like most Brits, takes her scones very seriously.
But with varying opinions as to how best to eat the afternoon tea delight, the monarch’s former personal chef, Darren McGrady, has shared the her favourite recipe – and revealed she ALWAYS puts jam before the cream.
Darren, who cooked for the Queen for many years, recently launched his own YouTube channel, and has demonstrated how to make the Queen’s favourite Royal Tea Scones.
While you probably think royal scones are impossible to replicate, you might be surprised by just how simple they are to whip up.
Darren revealed that afternoon tea originated back to the 1900’s, and has been a royal tradition ever since.
And having spent a lot of time with the royals, in particular the Queen, Princess Diana and her sons Prince William and Harry, it’s safe to say the chef knows a thing or two about baking quality scones.
When it came to afternoon tea, Darren revealed Her Majesty didn’t miss a day, and said she would sit down for tea no matter where in the world she was.
He said: “I remember being on the Royal Yacht Britannia, we flew out to Australia and it was 5 o’clock in the morning, but to the Queen it was 5 in the afternoon and it was time for tea, so my next job was making scones. ”
But while she does have a favourite recipe, it appears she still preferred variety.
Darren revealed that the Queen would alternate daily between plain scones and fruit scones – sometimes raisins, and sometimes sultanas.
But regardless of which she’d have, Darren said she’d would ALWAYS do jam first, followed by the clotted cream
To make the Royal Tea scones Darren explains that you start by adding flour, sugar, baking powder and butter into a bowl. Then rub all the ingredients together until you’ve got really fine breadcrumbs.
Then add the egg and slowly pour in the milk, but warns against kneading too much and insists on lightly bringing the ingredients together instead.
Once the ingredients have combined, Darren says to place on a lightly dusted surface and very gently knead the dough, rolling it out until it’s once inch thick.
He then used a two inch cookie cutter to cut and shape the perfectly rounded scones.
According to Darren, the secret to getting royal-worthy scones is all in the glaze.
He explained that the simple egg yolk glaze was a really important step as it made the scones look “really pretty” when they were elegantly displayed on the table.
Once that’s done, pop the tray in the oven at 350 degrees, and bake the scones for about 15 minutes until they are perfectly golden.
Although tempting, Darren says you must wait for the scones to cool before covering them in cream.
The perfect scone, he revealed, is a firm outer but a soft and fluffy centre that’ll melt the butter beautifully.
Plus we revealed the Queen’s baths are only seven inches deep and measured precisely by a member of her staff.
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